Konoha High School
by Fumie Adachi
Summary: When Naruto wakes up one morning in a strange world where his parents are alive, everyone has 'phones' and he goes to Konoha High, a school overlooking the sea, he has to adjust quickly. Memories are stirring inside his mind, reminding him of some things, but it's bewildering. There's Deidara, who sets fire to his school books and blows up his drawings, there's Sasori and his cat,
1. Chapter 1 Starting Out

Starting off, the dream was about ramen. He didn't actually have dreams about ramen, usually. He had dreams about- He didn't want to say what he dreamt about.

Then, he was falling. Like, your stomach falling through your back kind of falling. It felt cold. Really cold. Falling through the ice cold wind, in just his tee-shirt and shorts. His hat fell off. Poor hat.

He saw lots of colours, people's faces. Sakura-chan, Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, that prick Deidara – wasn't he dead?! – Gaara. And a load of people he didn't recognise, too. A girl with wavy auburn hair, smiling. There was a pink kitten (that was when I started to get scared), and a purple haired girl. She was glaring at him.

Then, he felt his soft bed – he liked his bed a lot – on his back, and fell back a little. Actually felt it. He had been falling. This didn't make sense. Unless if Shino's bugs had lifted him up in his sleep, it didn't make sense.

"Naruto?" Someone said from downstairs. Downstairs? What? It wasn't Sakura. It definitely wasn't anyone he knew.

Naruto didn't reply. He looked out of the window, seeing the sun already risen. Had he overslept? He was supposed to be going on a mission today. Jumping out of bed, he zipped up his hoodie, ignoring his shirt. He changed fast, skidding downstairs.

"Naruto! No need to run!" A woman with long red hair said, standing at the end of the corridor.

Naruto blinked at her. She grinned.

"You're still half asleep," she turned, wandering back into the room she'd come from. He followed slowly. She could be some spy or rogue ninja. "Your dad already left. Heads up, toast!" A piece of toast came flying through the air. He grinned, catching it.

"Hurry up then! You'll be late for school! Nakita and Sakura are waiting for you!"

Nakita...? He could ask Sakura what was going on. He started towards the door.

"Naruto, you're half dressed. Get dressed first."

Wait. She'd mentioned his dad. His dad?! But he was dead. Which would make her his...

"Mom,"

"Yes, honey?" She hummed, looking up.

"Uh... thanks for the toast," He mumbled, holding it up and running back to his room.

Okay, so his parents were alive, he'd fallen; I had 'school' and someone called Nakita...? By his bed was a black bag, with the orange Uzumaki symbol on it. I poked it with his toe. It fell over, spilling a load of books and paper. Naruto gulped. Looking out of the half covered window, he saw Sakura waiting by the wall, talking to girl with black hair. She was nodding.

Right. He'd get down there and talk to her.

He rooted through his stuff. None of his usual clothes were there, replaced by some things that looked like pants, but they were black and longer. He pulled them on, zipping up a hoodie over a black tee-shirt.

His headband was gone. Replaced with... a weird black thing. It was a little smaller than his hand, rectangular. It was shiny. He held it in front his face. He was pretty pale. He poked his hair a bit, and then picked up the bag. He could hit someone with it, right? He closed the door, hurrying down the hall. He waved to 'mom', who sort of waved back, smiling. Weird. He closed the door behind me, rushing up to Sakura. Before he could open his mouth to ask her what the actual hell was going on, she said. "Took your time. You know Izumo-sensei hates us being late!"

Okay. One, Izumo-sensei? Two, she was dressed weirdly too. She was wearing shorts like usual, only in the same material as the pants I'd had to wear. Her dark pink top was off the shoulder, showing a black tank one, not mesh. She wasn't wearing sandals, whatever shoes they were, they were the same length, with long white criss cross things on them. The other girl smiled at him, showing lines on her teeth. Sakura punched his arm.

"You're out of it today. Come on!" She grabbed his arm and pulled me along.

"Hey, Naru." The other girl greeted him. I stared at her. She laughed. "You gonna eat that toast?"

I shook his head and held it out to her. She took it gently, nodding.

"Thanks. I forgot to eat again."

She'd forgotten to eat?! No one 'forgets to eat'!

It was a pretty warm morning. Soon, Sakura let go of his arm, tilting her head to the side.

"You're quiet today,"

He grunted. She laughed.

"Ooh, Nakita, someone's grumpy today!"

Nakita grinned again.

"Hey, look! It's Lee!" she said. Naruto looked up. At the end of the road Sakura had pulled him down was a huge, square building with loads of windows. Behind it, was the sea.

As soon as Naruto saw the sea, he relaxed. Looking back at Sakura, he felt a little more at ease. He'd get through this. As soon as he saw the symbol on the gate, his stomach jolted, filling his head with memories. Looking around at the other kids talking in the front field, he saw a blonde haired girl, knowing immediately (not knowing how though) that her name was Iro.

This was so weird.

Someone rushed past him, making me stumble a little.

"Sorry!" he apologised, starting to walk past again.

No. No.

Nagato Uzumaki?!

He looked up at him, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry, I was just-"

"It's fine," He said quickly, drawing a little closer to Sakura. All. So. Weird. Naruto thought he was... dead. I watched him hurry up to two others. One of them had spiky ginger hair, like Pein. The other was Konan, Naruto remembered her. I looked at Sakura sideways. "Hey, Sakura."

"Yeah?"

"I'm a bit forgetful today... could you, like, tell me something?"

"What is it?" she sighed, folding her arms.

"Who are all these people?"

"You're an idiot," she said angrily, punching him in the side of the head.

"Hey!" He yelped. She smiled, though.

"'Kay. Right. See that lot over there?"

She pointed to four kids. He knew three of them: Gaara, Kankuro and Temari. But another girl.

"That's Gaara. Your friend," she said slowly. "And that's Kankuro, he hits on everyone. Everyone knows Gaara has a crush on Rachel, the other girl. Temari's cool. She runs for the school team."

School team. Rachel. His friends. His stomach jolted again, and another load of memories crowded in.

"Uh... Ino, she's a cheerleader. Shikamaru's super smart. Chouji spends half his time cooking for school events. They're cool. Hey, there's Sai!" She waved. Sai nodded and wandered up to them.

"Hey."

Naruto gulped. "Hey."

He smiled again and continued to stare at a black thing in his hand, like the one he'd found.

_A phone. _His brain said automatically. He shook his head a little, frowning.

"There's Hinata, she does gymnastics and stuff. That's Neji, her cousin. He's an actor thing. TenTen does all the tech back stage, she's nice. Kiba – your friend, remember?! – wants to be some vet or something. God, he's got another stray with him. Tsunade will never let him keep that one here. Shino's pretty... creepy. He keeps to himself, I guess. Oh, crap. Don't move," she finished off, hissing. She pulled him away from the gate and leant against the fence.

"Akatsuki," She breathed out. "Fine. They're gone."

"Akatsuki?!" he said loudly. She glared at him.

"Not so loud!" she sighed, hitting his arm. "They look angry."

He looked up. A crowd of kids were walking past. Sakura sighed.

"You've gotta be careful, 'specially after last time."

"Last time?" he gulped. Sakura grumbled under her breath.

"Look, Naruto. Whatever you're doing, stop it. You know what happened."

"Let's say I don't,"

She glared at me.

"Fine. I'll go along with it. You pissed off Hidan Yuki."

"H-Hidan?" he gulped. I remembered that name. She nodded.

"Whatever it is you're doing, Naruto, it's getting annoying," she shook her head. As she opened her mouth to say something else, a bell rang. She made an angry noise in the back of her throat and pulled his arm. "Come on,"

Hefollowed her, looking around as we went. Kiba was standing in the front hall, arguing with Tsunade. "But you let him keep the cat!" He pointed to a familiar looking red head. His brown eyes barely flickered from Kiba.

"That's because Cookie is actually a girl, you know that," Tsunade sighed. "You can't bring another stray to class- Oh, Sakura! I need to talk to you for a second,"

Sakura let go of his arm, moving to talk to Tsunade. Naruto was left to talk to Kiba, who was cradling a small bird. "Hey,"

"Hey," he managed to get out. The gaze of the red head scared him. I thought for a name…

_Sasori. _He gulped. On his shoulder sat a pink kitten – _the _pink kitten from his dream – with black rimmed blue eyes, and a black tipped tail. It mewed, and rubbed its head against his cheek. He barely blinked, stroking its head. Kiba sighed.

"I'll put it in a bush outside. Be right back," He darted out of the door, leaving the blonde standing like an idiot. Sasori didn't blink, taking him in. He was the first to talk.

"Something's different about you, Uzumaki."

Naruto blushed.

"Nothing's wrong with me!"

He shrugged. The cat looked up. Then, it spoke.

"You have food in your hair,"

_The cat spoke_. He began to try and take the food out, disguising his surprise, hearing them walk away. Kiba walked back in, grinning. "You're in so much trouble. Most of the Akatsuki are looking at you like you're food,"

Naruto gulped, as they began to walk. "W-who's the cat?"

"Woah, you don't remember?" he laughed. "That's Cookie, Deidara's sister. He was messing around in science, remember? She got turned into her cat form and stuck like that."

"Right," Naruto mumbled. This place was so weird. Girls being turned into cats, the Akatsuki were alive. They were all dressed really strangely. It was like before… but different. He followed Kiba, trying to act normal. The dark haired boy didn't seem to notice, getting to a door and pushing through. People were sitting at desks in the class, and right in the middle of the room was… Sasuke.


	2. Chapter 2 Some People Never Change

It was nice to know that some things never change. Some people never change.

But Naruto had pretty much decided that the Bakuhatsu family were scary.

He sat next to Kiba, as far away from Sasuke as he could get – but the Uchiha didn't notice, he was too busy talking to a huge kid with spiky orange hair. And that means _huge. _He towered over most of the class when he was sitting down. _Maths. _It was weird, how one second he'd be unsure, then his brain would fill in the gaps for him.

He knew that the girl sitting next to the windowsill, talking in low tones with a black haired kid was Aimee. And that the guy was Tobi. Someone poked him in the back of the head.

"Hey, astronaut," Nakita grinned. "You still zoned out?"

"Mrm." he sighed. She laughed.

"Just make sure Izumo doesn't notice you sleeping. He's the world's biggest hypocrite, you know he is."

The blonde just nodded and rested his head on his folded arms. The door slammed closed behind Izumo and a blonde boy, wearing gloves... Naruto whipped around. Gaara had barely reacted. How could he-?! It was Deidara, the guy who _killed _him! How could he not react?!

"No need to cheer, peasants, hm." Deidara grunted, sitting in front of me. Naruto stared. Kiba poked his cheek.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

"He has a leaf in his hair," he bluffed, looking out of the window. His eyes slid to the kitten, who was lying on the window sill, snoozing.

"Ayano, awake please!"

She mumbled, her ear flicking a little. Sasori leaned over and poked her belly.

"Wake up."

She opened one eye.

"Fine."

The kitten was part of the class. He was scared now, but decided not to say anything. To be honest, he didn't find the math that hard. His brain just did it. He was happy about that, at least he wasn't going to fail or whatever. Whatever that was.

"Don't pick a fight with me," Izumo's growl brought me out of his daydream.

"Why not?" Deidara was already standing. "You won't stop me, hm."

"Oh, and carving pictures into a table with a knife is the worst you can do?" Izumo snorted. Deidara glared at him. Slowly, he picked up a load of paper, ripping it up slowly. Small shreds of paper flew down onto the paper like confetti. He found a lighter from his pocket, and lit it, throwing it onto the pile.

"There you go, hm."

Kiba caught his eye, mouthing 'Wow!' Izumo sighed grumpily and began to pat out the flames.

"Uhm... Rachel, could you go and tell the office that Deidara's at it again."

It all sounded so normal. Rachel, a girl with bronze coloured hair, picked her way through the class and walked out of the door. The flames went out quickly, leaving a pile of charred paper and a hole in the desk. Naruto felt a little pressure on his shoulder, and jumped.

"You got that one wrong." The cat muttered in his ear.

"Ah!" he jumped, almost falling out of his chair.

"Geez, it's just me," The cat sighed. "You got number five wrong."

"Uh... thanks."

She smiled (as much as a cat could), before hopping off to sit on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Wait for it…" A girl with long purple hair said, shuffling towards the window. There was a clatter of someone's chair, and everyone rushed to the window. Naruto was squished between Gaara and Zoe – the purple haired girl.

"What is it?"

Gaara shook his head, solemn as usual. "You know. Any second now."

Naruto waited, barely breathing. The window was looking out at the sea. Suddenly, in front of them, something white flew upwards. Then, it exploded in mid-air, raining ashes. Everyone cheered.

"Quiet!" Izumo roared. "You can go now," Then, more quietly. "Why is it always _me_?"

Everyone wandered back. Naruto glanced over. Zoe was still there, but he looked away, shaking his head to clear it.

"Remind me, what do we have next?"

~{ღ}~

"You're acting like a toddler,"

"Says the cat, hm."

"It's your fault," she snapped, as Deidara walked back up the cliff.

"You thought it was funny!"

"That was before I was turned," she took a deep breath with her tiny lungs. "INTO A CAT."

"You need to stop this," Aimee said quietly. She was walking with Tobi. "You already had the window incident-"

"You gotta admit, that was funny." Zoe chuckled.

"-and now you've blown up another desk. You keep having these tantrums!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," he sighed. "Look, Cookie-"

"You're working on it," she muttered mutinously. "Trust me. You will feel pain when I get back."

~{ღ}~

Konoha High is a towering, white building. Its white walls and split level building resembled a painting. It was an extremely sought after school, yet it seemed that it attracted a lot of troublesome people. If you were to stand at the gate for a while, you'd hear yelling, see animals run across the front lawns, explosions over the beach and silver haired boys jumping out of windows.

If you walked into the main hall, you'd be greeted by either a pink haired girl, sitting behind the desk with her small glasses on the end of her nose. She's a student, Sakura Haruno. She wants to be a doctor, she works under Tsunade, the principal for extra credit.

Kiba is usually hanging around nearby, cradling a stray animal. If you're lucky, you'll see Juugo, the gentle giant, sitting nearby, admiring the bird or any other animal from afar. Zetsu – a quiet, yet unpredictable boy – may have come in. He finds solace in the outside when the inside becomes too noisy and downright insane for him. His green hair is usually threaded with mud.

Sitting outside the office will be Hidan, or Deidara, or even Kisame. Kisame tries not to get mixed up in the other two's dare devil schemes, but somehow, he always does. Kakuzu is Hidan's friend – the one who makes sure he doesn't break any bones. It seems surprising, but usually a purple haired girl named Zoe will be with them. She's as bad as Deidara, with a habit of arguing with teachers. Before the 'accident', Cookie (or rather, Ayano, as her legal name is) would be with them, but now she has to sit with Sasori (who by no means is more sensible, he just doesn't get caught), because it's hard to write with paws.

Deep in the heart of the school, you'll see knife games, in which Sasori tries extra hard to stab Deidara's fingers, you'll see small fires from bad chemistry experiments. Naruto will fall out of the full length window once or twice a month and hang there, by his jeans, from the flag pole. Looking out to the large grounds from the auditorium, you will usually see the Sand Siblings sitting under a tree. Temari will usually be back from a run, and will be shouting at Kankuro.

Naruto sighed happily. He'd got through an almost un-eventful day in this place. Apart from the thing with the cat and the explosions. The class dispersed slowly. Memories were coming faster and faster. As if by habit, Naruto picked up his bag and waited for Nakita. She grinned.

"You look happier,"

He grinned. "Yeah! I just had a bit of a headache earlier."

"Good, good." She grinned. "Hey, will your mom and dad let you out after school? We're all going down to the beach."

He grimaced. "I'll ask. Text me, okay?"

The words tumbled out of his mouth. She waved and left the room. He followed, and when the corridor split, he took the left, while she took the right. Down the long hallway and a few steps, he passed the main courtyard. He found a side door, frowning. He'd prove it. Prove this wasn't real.

He readied myself to jump. The theatre roof wasn't that far up. He'd be able to jump. His legs were itching to let go of the tension, so he jumped-

"I don't think jumping at walls is going to help you," a soft voice said. Naruto opened his eyes, massaging his head.

"Yeah..." he looked up at Gaara.

"You okay?" Rachel said, concerned. The blonde nodded.

"I was just messing around."

"Fine," Gaara smiled, helping him up.

He couldn't jump anymore. No more roof hopping.


	3. Chapter 3 Little Brother

Well, this was awkward.

When Naruto had first got in from school, he'd been fine. No concussion from running at walls. Or so he'd thought.

Sitting on the counter, bare feet, bare _chest_, was a clone.

He didn't remember making a clone. And if he wasn't able to jump anymore, he wouldn't have been able to. Plus, it must have been a defected one, because it had black hair.

"Yo."

He was used to his clones talking to him.

"Hey." he said. It must be another one of those normal things. He thought hard, but none of those helpful little memories decided to help him out.

The clone leaned back and smirked, "So, little bro, what's up?"

"F-" Wait...Little bro?! What? Where did that come from?

"Mom said you were out of it this morning."

"I hit my head." Naruto mumbled, dumping his bag.

"Doing what?"

"I walked into a wall."

"Genius." He laughed and jumped off the counter. "I'm not surprised."

"That's not nice." Naruto pouted.

He snorted, "Oh, I'm sorry, little brother."

"I'm not little!" Finally, a spark in his memory. "We're only two minutes apart!"

His twin smirked, "Two minutes older. Still makes you younger, little brother. And, you act like a toddler. What was it last week? You got thrown out of a window."

"For a guy who's supposed to be sick, you're looking pretty happy."

"I'm ill." Menma said.

"And you're walking around like that?!" Naruto stared pointedly at his bare chest.

Menma sighed, "I'm lowering my fever. It's too hot."

"Of course..." Naruto narrowed his eyes. There was a sound nearby.

"Nice to see you two getting along." Kushina narrowed her eyes. "Naruto, you have dirt above your eye. What have you been doing?" She didn't trust him at the moment.

"He walked into a wall." Menma supplied. Kushina sighed.

"Naruto, please...Be more careful. You just got thrown out of a window last week."

What is with this window incident? "Sorry, mom." Naruto muttered.

She ruffled his hair and went over to do the same to Menma.

"Mom..." Menma said, annoyed.

"Yes, dear?"

"Don't do that. You're messing up my hair."

She grinned, "That's the point."

"Hey, mom~" Naruto said, remembering Nakita's invitation. "Everyone's going to the beach today-"

"And you want to go?"

Menma folded his arms. "If he goes, I want to go."

"You're supposed to be sick!" Kushina snapped. "Naruto, you can go. Just don't get in that... what's his name, Hidan's way again."

"We were messing around!"

Her hair started to swirl around dangerously, "You got thrown out of a window."

"Mo-"

"A window."

"I-"

"A window!"

"Seriou-"

"A WINDOW!"

"I know, I know!" Naruto yelped. "Ow! Ow!"

"Kushina, calm down." Minato said, pulling her hand from Naruto's ear. "He's fine now."

She scowled, "Now, don't you dare take his side..."

Minato sighed. "I'm not. It's over now. He's alive. No broken bones. To be honest, I found it funny."

"You find everything funny! What about that girl who got turned into a cat?! What do we do when we get a call from the school saying 'sorry, but your son's been turned into a llama'?!"

Minato shot a warning look at Naruto and Menma. "They know better than that now."

"I'm not sure about that..." Menma muttered. He shot up, "Hey, dad? Can I go to the beach?"

"Aren't you sick?"

"You said I could go back tomorrow anyway." Menma pouted. Minato pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Fine. No kidnapping your friends. No diving off the rocks. Try not to kill anyone. No stripping in front of random people. No-"

"I get it, dad..." Menma groaned.

"And try not to scare anyone either." Kushina said. "It wasn't funny, the thing with the voice tapes."

"Kiba dared me to!"

Her eyes sparked, "And you accepted the dare. Be the better man and-"

Minato patted her hand, "He understands, dear."

"He doesn't." she growled. "Just go."

They didn't move.

"GO!"

Menma grabbed his shirt and ran out the door. Minato kept patting her hand, and Naruto scrambled around, grabbing his things.

"Bye!" He yelled, before chasing after Menma.

"Bye!" Menma shouted too, from the front gate.

~{ღ}~

"Naruto! Over here!" Naruto turned towards the voice and saw Nakita jumping up and down and waving. He looked at Menma sideways.

"I'll leave you to greet her." he sidled away, resurfacing beside Kiba and Hinata. Kiba was trying to teach Hinata about sandcastles.

"No! Akamaru! Ah, don't pee on the damn thing!"

Hinata giggled. Then, she looked up.

"N-naruto-kun..."

"Hi!" he grinned.

Kiba grinned back at him. "Hey man. Careful, we're losing some of the beach."

He glanced over at the small cove where the rocks met the sand.

Naruto nodded, "Well, let's get in the water then!"

Kiba grinned and ran in, chasing Akamaru.

"W..wait for me, K..Kiba-kun!" Hinata ran after them.

Naruto stopped and waited for her, grinning. She blushed.

"Come on!" Naruto grabbed her wrist gently and ran towards the water. She squealed when the warm spray hit her face.

"Agh, shit!" Kiba said. "Don't creep up on me like that, Sai!"

"Sorry..."

Hinata giggled as Kiba splashed water into Sai's face.

Naruto grinned and jumped on Kiba, pulling him under the water. "Water fight!"

Back on the beach, Sakura sighed.

"They're all so hyper."

Nakita laughed. "I'm going to make a sandcastle. Men-men, help me!" Menma sighed and sat down on the beach.

"Men-men? Are you serious?" Nakita pouted at his remark.

"Yes! I'm very serious!" She glared at him until she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"Your face."

He was about to reply, when Temari wandered over.

"Have you seen Gaara?"

"He's the one behind the huge sandcastle." Nakita piped up.

Temari rolled her eyes, "Figures." She turned and started walking towards the sandcastle, "Hey, Gaara!"

Nakita shrugged and picked up a bucket. "Men-men, go get some sand!"

He sighed, "There's sand all around you. I don't need to go get any."

She pouted, "But Men-Men!"

"Get it yourself, squirt." He laughed, lying back. "I'm tired."

She crawled over. "But I wanna make a sandcastle!"

"I'm tired!"

She stared at him, "Pleeaaseee?"

"No."

Suddenly, an evil smirk appeared on her face. "If you don't help me, I will tell everyone about-"

He slapped a hand over her mouth. "...I don't even want to know...Give me the bucket."

"Yay!" She handed him the bucket, and he started gathering sand, muttering to himself.

Sakura laughed and watched Menma fail at trying to fill the bucket with sand.

"Stupid sand!" He muttered. "Why is it not sticking together?"

Sakura sighed, "It needs to be wet. Go get a bucket of water and then it will stay."

"Oh." Menma stared down at the bucket. "Fine."

He went off towards the shore, and Nakita began to pat the sand into little piles.

Sakura sighed, "You look like a little kid, Nakita."

She grinned, "I am a little kid! Learn to express your inner child!"

Sakura laughed and was about to respond, when suddenly, her face paled.

"Act like you're talking to me." She hissed.

Nakita's face paled as well and she started babbling about sea turtles. Menma wandered back over.

"Is that the one who threw Naru-"

"No. He's the one... he's the one who cuts people up."

"How do you know?!" Nakita said, craning to see. Deidara and Sasori were joining their friends at the end of the beach.

"Kiba told me."

"Oh, and you're going to believe him? How do you know that cat isn't one of his experiments?!"

"Because it's still aliiivveeee!" Nakita said in a creepy voice. She laughed, "Just kidding! I know absolutely nothing about what's going on. Someone care to explain?"

Sakura sighed and started to explain, when suddenly,

"Heeey, Sakura-chan."

"Oh great, and here comes Kankuro." Sakura muttered.

"You're all weird." Menma announced. "I am going to go and talk to someone sane."

He made a beeline for Neji. Lee intercepted him.

"Menma! I challenge you to a-"

"Lee, go away."

Nakita ran over and smacked Menma. "Don't be mean to Lee! Lee is my bestie!" She whispered over to Lee, "Sakura's alone now, so go for it!"

Lee looked terrified, "W...what?"

Nakita sighed, "Oh..Look. There's Kankuro over there. Hey, is he flirting with Sakura?"

Lee's head snapped back, "What?" He dashed towards Sakura.

"Mission accomplished!"


	4. Chapter 4 Yachts

Imagine you're one of those extremely rich, old men on one of those big white yachts. You're no more shameless than Father Jack: this beach is crawling with kids.

Okay, are you scared? Good. This area of America is great, the weather, the girls – no offence to them – the success stories. On the rocks, overlooking the bright bay, there are three people. A lean, pale boy with short blue-tinged, but white hair. He's talking to a girl who's definitely used to showing some skin. She has that annoying habit of looking rather erotic but when she finally goes somewhere like the beach, she continues to wear her tiny shorts. Strange. In the background is another girl, with long straight blonde hair. Her glassy green eyes scan the book in front of her. Her name's Iro. She's much more modest in her clothing than Karin, the (erotic) red head, but not when they're alone. But she's mostly shy with everyone.

And at the bottom of the rocks are Jugo and Sasuke. Sasuke, as usual, is frowning. But, he's still getting admiring glances from girls across the beach. Jugo is lying on the sand, staring at the sky. He takes up a lot of sand, at over two metres tall already. His bright orange hair is spread out on the sand.

The middle of the beach is taken up by a lively gaggle of high schoolers. Take a photo, it lasts longer. At the front, are Naruto, Kiba, Sai and Hinata. Kiba and Naruto are splashing, Sai is just sitting there. He's daydreaming again. Hinata doesn't mind the spray, a small blush dancing across her cheeks. At least she can hide under the water.

Right by the edge of the water is 'Men-Men', Nakita and Lee. Lee was sent to make a sandcastle with the first two, by Sakura. Sakura is his darling, his only. But also extremely short tempered, so he's cowering behind the Dark Uzumaki. It's a rare occurrence to see Menma smiling, but Nakita's being a child again, so he is laughing. Nakita is lying in the sand, thinking turtle thoughts. The waves tickle her toes, but she doesn't lose concentration.

Ino and Sakura are talking civilly for once, under the supervisation of Temari and Shikamaru. Chouji is sitting nearby, chomping on ice cream. If that's possible. Shikamaru and Temari are debating about something or other.

Do not go near Gaara's sandcastle. Kankuro just stood in it. Rachel is chasing him around the beach, sometimes stopping to adjust her sandals. Gaara is mourning his masterpiece, quietly cursing under his breath.

Shino sits alone, talking to the sand ticks.

TenTen and Neji are far out to sea. TenTen begged Neji to come with her to surf. The Hyuga agreed, out of loyalty to his best friend girlfriend. TenTen's hair buns have fallen out. The Hyuga almost surfs into the rock, he's so awestruck by her transformation. Lee is cheering them on now.

Do not go to the left side of the beach. It is occupied by the dangerous side of the high schoolers. Nagato, Konan and Yahiko lie on the sand, staring at the sky. Konan's blue hair is mixed with Nagato's red and Yahiko's ginger. She's laughing. Nagato has just come out of hospital. He was already reserved, and the accident made him quiet. Yahiko speaks for him, but sometimes a little too much.

Hidan and Ally are jumping around on the opposite rocks, laughing and cursing about something. On the edge sits Itachi and Cloud, talking. Cloud's feet dangle in the clear ocean, the soft spray hitting her ankles.

Underneath the shadow of the rocks sits Zoe, concentrating on some sea creature she has found. She's not aware of it, but Deidara is staring at her bent profile, fascinated.

Sasori cuffs him over the head, the pink cat on his lap laughing at her brother's expression. Zetsu sits next to them, eating something. His hand reaches out and he pats Ayano's head gingerly, making her purr. He smiles happily.

Over by a car, Aimee and Tobi are talking animatedly. When he's away from the others, Tobi talks freely, in first person, too. Her auburn hair falls forward and he pushes back a lock of hair.

Kakuzu is shouting at Hidan and Ally not to die. Go figure. Kisame is somewhere in the depths of the sea, you can see the bubbles. He loves swimming. Kakuzu prefers peace and quiet.

"Karin, you should stop."

"Ne, Iro, you're such a spoil sport! Lighten up!"

"I don't think talking about people behind their backs is good," Iro said quietly, her long hair covering her face.

Karin sighed.

"You've been so boring lately. What is _with _you?"

"I'm not boring." Iro muttered. "I'm extremely interesting."

"God," Karin huffed, looking out at the beach. "Hey, see her?" she pointed to a pretty girl with dark blonde hair. "She's such a slut. She, like, hangs out with Gaara just so she can get money."

Iro's head whipped up. "What's your basis for this?"

"My spider senses."

"You're such a gossip," Iro went back to reading.

"And see her?" Karin pointed her painted finger at another girl, with bright blue hair. "She's Itachi Uchiha's secret lover. She got kicked out so now he's paying her to stay with hi-"

There was a snapping sound as Iro closed her book.

"Karin, you're being mean." She glared at the red head. "Stop it."

"Touchy."

"I am not touchy." Iro huffed, picking her way down the rocks. In one hand, she held her book. Her other hand was free, held out to balance her. She put her foot forward, and it slipped into a crack. It twisted painfully and she fell forward. A sharp pain spread through her foot.

A warm arm closed around her waist, stopping her from crashing into the sand. Warm breath fanned down her neck, making her flush bright red.

"Sasuke… thank you." She mumbles. The Uchiha tilts his head to the side.

"You should be more careful," he lets her stand, smiling a little.

"Don't worry, I will."


	5. Chapter 5 Yearbook

As Naruto flicked through the yearbook, munching on an apple which Kushina had pushed into his hands, his eyes alighted on the page for his home room class. It kind of sucked, there were only a few of them.

Naruto Uzumaki — Believe it!

Then, some information he must have written down. Likes ramen. Doesn't like math.

Then, he saw the small titled underneath, grinning. 'Class Clown.'

Maybe being thrown out of windows had its merits.

Sakura Haruno.

Sakura looked pretty, a pair of small cherry red glasses pushed back up onto her head. She wore a dark blue hoodie and white t—shirt. Naruto rested his cheek on his hand, studying the rest of the page. Maybe this would help him (one of his better ideas).

Menma Uzumaki.

He was barely even looking at the camera. His notes were pretty vague, he liked the beach and friends. Right.

Rock Lee. Likes Sakura Haruno and sports. Naruto chuckled.

Nakita Ai.

Naruto frowned, but then his face smoothed out. It was a nice name. Likes writing and the beach. Dislikes nosy people. She was looking at the camera pointedly, as if Naruto was a nosy person and she didn't like him.

Kiba Inuzuka. The day the picture had been taken hadn't been his day: there was white bird poop in his hair. He was grinning awkwardly, like he was embarrassed. Likes animals (especially dogs).

Naruto lost interest.

"Tell me something I don't know." He muttered, flipping through the pages. A few photos. He stopped at the Akatsuki's class/group/whatever. He searched for a moment, glancing at the people he didn't know.

Kumo Blue was the blue haired girl (this made Naruto cry with laughter for a while. He'd had a long day.), Zoe Kuchiki was the solemn looking girl with bright hair. It interested Naruto. It was purple with black and blue streaks, cut to her shoulders.

Alistair Ulven was the girl with black hair he'd seen at the beach. She wore a cap which was too big for her, pulled back to show her large eyes. She was smiling crookedly. Naruto shivered.

He found Deidara and Sasori — the first he'd ever faced. Deidara's hair was in a low ponytail, grinning cheekily. Sasori barely smiled, his brown eyes boring holes into the camera.

Naruto's eyes slid to the smaller girl next to Deidara. Ayano Bakuhatsu. He frowned, studying her quickly. She was the cat girl, he was sure. Her blonde hair was duller than her brother's and cut to her chin. Her fringe covered most of her right eye, leaving the other eye. It was rimmed with black eyeliner, sloping upwards slightly.

What had happened?

She was next to Aimee Gaskarth, a paler girl with flowing auburn hair. She looked worried, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. One end was missing off one of them.

Naruto flipped through again, landing on a familiar face: Sasuke. His face was blank. It was a group photo, taken in the field. They all wore white shirts and black shorts, but as usual, Sasuke seemed to be at ease. One on shoulder, Suigetsu was grinning, showing his creepily sharp teeth. On the other side, two girls. Karin Uzumaki and Iro Levantis. Karin was grimacing earnestly, but Iro seem preoccupied. Her long hair was pulled up, showing a clear face with a pouting mouth. She was leaning on a half asleep girl called Karma Kelley, long black hair spread over Jugo's lap. Naruto shrugged, flipping past.

He skipped quickly past Gaara, quickly alighting on Rachel. She had most of her hair pulled back in a camo bandana, a few bronze strands framing her face.

There were even a few kids he didn't know. A round faced boy called Jon, a cheeky girl called Sapphire Fujimoto.

Naruto groaned, knuckling his eyes.

"Aghhhh."

He flipped to the back, where the teachers resided. Kakashi, Gai, Izumo, Kotetsu, Tsunade, Shizune, Asuma, Kurenai, Genma, Jiraiya. Two women he didn't recognise. He blinked at them.

Aoife and Bella. Music and geography.

Wait, so what did Jiraiya teach?

English. Oh Kami.

Tossing the book off the bed, he leant back, yawning. So, he had a twin brother. And parents. He went to a crazy school where Tsunade was the principal, the Akatsuki were definitely alive and kicking and there were random people wandering around.

His head hurt.

Aoife could tell that this weekend was going to suck.

She had a load of things to mark — how did that even work?! She taught music, for God's sake.

Turned out that she did have to mark a load of papers, and it had emerged very early on that theory was not her strong point.

"Kakashi...!" She shouted, rolling over. The floor was a comfy place to mark stuff, there was space. And no way she'd drop anything, or fall off anything.

"Yeah?"

"Where are you?"

"Mongolia."

"Haha. I'm hungry," She said irritably, padding into the tiny kitchen. "Ooh, KitKat!"

"Mine, thank you." Kakashi said, reaching a long arm around her and plucking the prize from her.

She pouted. "I'm hungry."

"I could share it," he said slowly, his eye glinting evilly.

"What's the catch?"

"No catch," Kakashi shook his head, breaking the KitKat in half. Aoife opened her mouth to talk again and he posted half of the biscuit in, tapping her chin. "Eat it."

She chewed, half glaring, half smiling.

"I am going to rant to you now." She announced, pulling herself up to sit on the counter. Kakashi folded his arms, leaning against the table opposite table.

"Go on. Rant."

"Why did I even become a teacher?! I swear, I'm still having nightmares about that moment when I turned around and Naruto was gone. You know what Hidan said?! He wanted to record his screaming for this stupid mix thing. Little bugger thinks he can get away with it because I'm his big sister." She took a deep breath. "It's tiring. Rant over."

Kakashi nodded slowly, tapping his chin.

"Music papers?"

"Eighty of them."

"Thought so. My turn. Jiraiya ran into my class and started shouting about a fire. Zoe set fire to the blinds. _Again_. My class loved it, all started cheering. Then the stupid cat got thrown on my face. She has claws." He pointed to the livid scratches on the edge of his scalp.

Aoife sighed. "Thank God it's the weekend."

"I positively feel like bursting into glorious song." Kakashi said bitterly. Aoife poked him with her big toe.

"Go on, then. Ed Sheeran!"

"Aoife, I was joking."

"Oh, I know. Stop being sarcastic." She grinned. Kakashi stood, towering over her. Placing a quick kiss on her forehead, he wandered into the next room. "What was that?"

"You were being funny again." He said, as if that was a reasonable answer.

"Remind me again why I let you stay with me."

"Because I'm awesome."

She looked down, smiling. Then, she hopped off the counter, returning to the huge pile of papers. There was a noise from next door.

She'd been living in this part of Konoha for two years. She was just glad she'd managed to get out of her family home, which was often half destroyed by her little brother. It kind of sucked that he'd entered high school the same time she'd got her degree, but she had to deal.

It made her laugh that she knew half of his friends already. She remembered them when they were kids, already all completely crazy. A lot had changed.

Itachi definitely didn't miss his old home. The price for leaving was now Sasuke's grudge, but he just had to live with that. He was only a year younger than Itachi.

He'd left after another argument with Fugaku, moving in with Cloud. There were still a lot of jokes about it.

But now he had a new problem. He wasn't the tidiest, but how had he lost the shirt?! It was sitting there five minutes ago.

He scanned the room again, sighing.

"Cloud?!"

"Hm?" She said from the bathroom.

"Where's the shirt I left on the side?"

"It's warm."

"That doesn't answer my— wait, you took it?"

"Well done." She appeared in the door way, still drying her hair. She wore large camo shorts and his black shirt, huge on her small frame. He folded his arms.

"You have your own stuff."

"Your stuff is comfy." She shrugged, skipping over. "And it smells nice."

"You smell nice too." Itachi rolled his eyes, taking the end of a piece of her hair.

"Thank you." She twirled, her wet hair whipping him a little.

He grabbed her hand, bringing her to a stop.

"How many of my shirts do you have now?"

"Lost count." She shrugged, resting her hands on his shoulders. He bent to kiss her quickly, grinning.

"I'll let it slide."


End file.
